


Role reversal

by R_4_L



Category: Naruto
Genre: Friendship, Hospitalization, Iruka Week 2021, Low Self-Esteem, Overworking, post fourth shinobi wR, support network
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:55:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29935122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_4_L/pseuds/R_4_L
Summary: Iruka finds himself hospitalized and Kakashi is by his friends side.  This time Kakashi is giving the lecture, he just needs to make sure Iruka hears it.
Kudos: 7
Collections: Iruka Week 2021





	Role reversal

The sound of beeping was the first thing that Iruka noticed. He felt weird. Even though his eye were closed he knew the light was coming in at the wrong angle. The blankets were scratchy and stiff plus the fact he was lying on his back. Iruka had a wonderfully soft fuzzy blanket that he had bought himself years ago one of his last missions. He loved to curl up with that blanket in bed when he fell asleep on his side. He let his mind spin as he tried to control all signs of waking. He was a Leaf shinobi, had he been on a mission? Had the village been invaded? Had he been captured?

The sound of a door opening almost jolted the chunin from his bed, “Hey, ‘Ru, I’m back, told you I wouldn’t be long.”

It was the sound the voice, that nickname that released a lot of the tension. Iruka opened his eyes to the sterile decor of a Konoha hospital room.

“Ka..” his throat was parched and talking was hard.

Feet thumped as Kakashi realized that Iruka was awake. “SHIT!” He rushed to the teacher’s side and brought his face into the other man’s line of sight. “Hey, you’re okay. I’m going to get you some ice chips and then let Sakura and Lady Tsunade know you’re awake okay?” He was reaching for the cup of ice chips on the table beside the bed before he even finished talking. Spooning a couple into Iruka’s mouth he watched as the man’s eyes drifted closed. “Just let them melt, I have more.”

Kakashi flicked the switch by Iruka’s bed to call for the shift nurse. She could grab Sakura or Lady Tsunade. Kakashi wasn’t leaving his friend’s side to search for them.

Iruka sat and listened to Lady Tsunade lecture him on chakra depletion.

“I can’t believe that with all the years of you being Kakashi’s friend that you didn’t recognize the signs in yourself and stop.” Tsunade waited until she was leaving the chunin’s room before delivering the final decree. “By the way, both Shikamaru and Ibiki say you’re fired and I’m giving you two weeks vacation from the academy AFTER you’ve been released from here. If and that’s a big if, you can show restraint in your scheduling we will see about allowing back on at the mission desk for a couple of shifts a week. That will not be for another couple of months so don’t get your hopes up.”

Iruka just sat there stunned as the door was slammed behind her and Sakura. He turned to Kakashi the only other person in the room, “what the hell just happened?”

Kakashi tipped back the chair he was sitting in. “Well you were running across the rooftops when you fell. I was too far away to catch you. I watched the way you hit the roof and slid down it. Aoba was the one to catch you. I arrived soon after and the two of us took you to the hospital.” Kakashi watched the man who had become a close friend over the last number of years. The pair had bonded over Naruto, became friends something that Kakashi hadn’t had for many a year. “You were out for the count. Sakura was worried enough that she called Lady Tsunade to come and help. Imagine my surprise when Aoba volunteers to go and cancel your shift with Ibiki. The thing is I know that you had just finished your day at the Academy and a shift at the mission desk. To find you were going off to help Ibiki right away, well that’s a bit much.” 

“You know that we’re short around the village,” Iruka shrugged. He’d never been able to go out on missions the way that Kakashi could. “This is the only way that I can help.”

Kakashi ran a hand over his eyes, why hadn’t he seen it earlier? How had they all missed this? Iruka’s self esteem was almost as bad as Naruto’s. “Iruka, I went to your apartment to get your day timer, because when Shikamaru found out that you were here he wanted to know about cancelling shifts. That meant that Lady Tsunade wanted to know just were it was that you were working. Academy five days a week for eight hours a day, mission desk for twenty hours a week, Ibiki and T&I to help with translation and sealing ten to fifteen hours a week and then there’s all the odd jobs, the cryptology, records, the barracks, checking up on the underground evacuation center, clan libraries, the orphanage.” 

Iruka just listened and flinched with every odd job that he took on. He honestly never thought there had been that many.

“When was the last time you’ve had a day off? A home cooked meal? More then a couple of hours of sleep?” Kakashi waited to see if Iruka could answer. “For fu...” the silver haired ninja cut himself off and shook his head, he was already mid-tirade and would continue until his friend got it. “How many times have you given me the same lecture? How many times have you been were I am telling me how stupid I was for pushing myself too hard?”

“But Kakashi you do so much for the village, you’re needed so much more then I am.”

“Bull shit!” Kakashi’s voice was harsh. “Sure, I can kill and I do it well, but without you to nurture the children of the village, to teach the meaning behind the will of fire, would there still be a village? The village needs you, we need you. Hell Iruka, I need you, if only to make sure that there is someone else to continue being my friend.”

Kakashi’s outburst shocked Iruka into silence. He couldn’t remember the last time Kakashi had yelled at anyone like that. Maybe it was time to take a break. “Alright I’ll admit, if you will.”

“Yeah and what will you admit?” 

“That I’m tired and need a break.” Iruka leaned back against his hospital bed and closed his eyes.

Kakashi grinned, he could work with that. “Alright. I can most definitely work with that, and just to be sure I’m booking my vacation at the same time to make sure that you rest up and heal. By the time you’re back on your feet I’ll get you to realize that you’re just as important to the village as I am.” He reached out and brushed the hair off of Iruka’s forehead, “rest now.”

Iruka wasn’t sure what it was that he just signed up for, but his body was shutting down again. Maybe he’d talk to the copy cat nin when he woke again. Right now he just wanted to sleep and with Kakashi here beside him, he knew that he was safe.


End file.
